Yahoo Acquires DreamWorks-Incubated Video-Sharing App Ptch
December 4, 2013
Yahoo appears to be not quite done yet with its startup shopping spree this year. As reported by The Next Web, the exclamatory Internet giant has bought another startup in the form of Ptch.
Ptch is the DreamWorks-incubated company behind the iOS app of the same name, which is designed for creating and sharing movies made from photos and videos. If that sounds familiar, perhaps you've heard of that time early last July when Yahoo acquired Qwiki, also an app for making movies from photos and videos.
Ptch announced the acquisition in a new blog post, suggesting that its technology may be used to enhance, say, Yahoo's Flickr service:
Today, we’re excited to announce that Ptch will be joining Yahoo! As part of the Yahoo team, we’ll be able to focus our efforts and leverage our technology to make Yahoo’s photo and video platforms the best in the world.The price of the acquisition is as yet undisclosed by either party. As a result of the deal, Ptch has been removed from the App Store and scheduled to completely shut down on Jan. 2, 2014. If you're an existing user, you can download your Ptch creations aka "ptches" until then through the Ptch website or the Ptch app, but only one at a time, it seems. To download a ptch from the Ptch website, go to your profile page, click on the title of the ptch, and click the download button. And to download a ptch from the Ptch app, go to your profile, tap the share icon under the ptch, and tap Save to Camera Roll. Yahoo's other acquisitions this year include Summly, Astrid, KitCam, and Bignoggins.
